Senior Director of Commercial Training

Ardelyx is a publicly traded commercial biopharmaceutical company founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs. Ardelyx has two commercial products approved in the United States, IBSRELA® (tenapanor) and XPHOZAH® (tenapanor). Ardelyx has agreements for the development and commercialization of tenapanor outside of the U.S. Kyowa Kirin commercializes PHOZEVEL® (tenapanor) for hyperphosphatemia in Japan. A New Drug Application for tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia has been submitted in China with Fosun Pharma. Knight Therapeutics commercializes IBSRELA in Canada.  The Senior Director of Commercial Training has responsibility for supporting commercial training needs for both IBSRELA and XPHOZAH products. This person will have responsibility for strategic planning and implementation of world class product training and skill-based training via eLearning, live meetings and virtual training and on demand training courses. Alignment on all training needs is done in conjunction with Ardelyx’s Sales Leadership Team and will report to the SVP, Sales.

Main Responsibilities

• Develop with the SVP, Sales, the training and development function for Field Sales including product, and customer interaction capabilities training as well as other trainings for Field Sales as needed. The Director of Commercial Training will have responsibility for on-the-ground execution and deployment of training experiences.
• Assist in the development and execution of comprehensive strategic and tactical plans to support the short and long term objectives of the Sales, Marketing, and Patient Services, and Reimbursement Teams. This includes responsibility for implementation and continuous improvement to the following work streams:
• New hire training programs and curriculum
• Continuing education with ongoing learning programs
• Advanced training for ongoing learning of product and disease knowledge and customer interaction capabilities
• Field advisory teams and learning champions
• Assist in the definition and development of core competencies and create tools, curriculum and initiatives to support them.
• Responsible for the development of classroom training programs including customer interaction capabilities as well as disease and product education via live training experiences, e-learning modules, etc.
• Responsible for the development of all commercial training programs including field sales and market access mentorships, coaching, and field assessment.
• Manage the development process for all sales training materials to incorporate all appropriate regulatory and legal compliance programs into the appropriate training programs.
• Establish and implement key metrics to track and communicate level of value and impact of sales training and development initiatives to all stakeholders.
• Work closely with Sales and Market Access to ensure appropriate integration of sales and marketing materials into all new hire and ongoing learning training programs.
• Manage, design and deliver sales training materials for National Sales Meetings, Area/Zone and Regional Sales Meetings, in close coordination with Commercial Senior Leadership, Marketing, and other field advisory teams.
• Ensures budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• Select, develop, and manage relationships with key agency partners.
• Provide a high level of strategic analysis and planning with the ability to work with and manage demands and expectations from multiple internal customers.
• Design and attend certification training for relevant training programs and vendors.

Qualifications

• BA/BS Degree required, preferably in life science or business. MBA preferred.
• Ideal candidate will have 10-12+ years of relevant pharmaceutical/biotech industry experience.
• The ideal candidate will have experience in specialty pharmaceuticals or biologics, with a background in specialty pharmacy and buy & bill.
• Proven communication skills with a well-developed ability to efficiently and productively communicate both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to influence, collaborate and interact effectively with senior leadership team and multiple key stakeholders across sales and marketing in order to align on objectives and provide consistent training direction.
• Demonstrated excellence in project management and effectively managing multiple projects/priorities including budgeting and actual spend against budget is required.
• Ensure that all training programs are consistent with, and supporting of, company legal, regulatory and compliance guidelines.
• 25-35% national travel required
• Training experience required
• Experience in Gastroenterology or Nephrology preferred
• Sales la